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With a soft whisper of steel, Guillaume drew a short sword from beneath his shirt along his spine. Body loose, ready for attack, he eased forward a half step.

Cold wet fog spread to us and immediately iced over with bone chilling cold. Freezing us both in place. First my feet and calves, rippling up my thighs. My upper body swelled with the rock troll, but my legs and feet stayed in their human form.

:It’s in the floor,: I shouted through the fog, hoping another Blood might hear. I shifted Shara higher in my arms, as if I could keep her out of the rising frigid cold. Terrified I might actually drop her when the ice spread up my body. The stone of my beast slowed the progression, which might buy me a little time.

Guillaume quivered ever so slightly, the sword tip twitching in the air. But that was all he could manage.

How long did we have? The small elevator was slow and ancient. Even if Carys and Leonie were right behind us, what could they do? The others were still free, but if they stepped into the trap, we might all be stuck here.

Kevin glanced back over his shoulder, his head jerking in a double take. Eyes wide, he whirled around to come running back toward us. I heard his voice echoing through the fog, but it was so distorted, I couldn’t make out his words. I couldn’t respond. At least he wasn’t affected.

The other queen slowly turned around. Her body glowed with writhing runes beneath her skin. Her eyes narrowed, glowing with the same blue-green power.

Goddess. Help us.

I cannot allow another queen to strike Shara down.

I need to fucking MOVE.

With all my will, I tried to step backwards. I barely wriggled my toes. But it was enough to make me sway slightly. I threw myself backwards, swaying like a tree in a hurricane. Movement. Any movement. I’d take it. And use it.

Even if my frozen legs broke off and shattered into a million pieces.

MEHEN

Oh, fuck no. Abso-fucking-lutely not. Not my queen. Especially not after we’d all died thanks to the motherfucking plague.

I raced down the stairs rather than wait on the elevators, catching up to Ezra and Daire as they threw open the fire exit door to the floor where I felt Rik’s warning. Our alpha was to the right, but the fuck-ass bear ran left.

“Trust me,” Ezra yelled without slowing. “That way’s a dead end!”

Fuck. I whirled around and caught up to them. “How do you know?”

“I fucking lived here for ten, twenty years. I know every nook and cranny of this place. Unless Keisha tore shit up after I left. This floor is a labyrinth of dead-end hallways, which is exactly why the attack happened here and not a floor up or down.”

“Which means Janelle deliberately set our queen up,” Daire growled out, mixed with panting for breath. Evidently they’d had to race up the stairs. I’d had it easier coming down from the roof.

“Fucking bitch is about to die,” I retorted.

We rounded a corner. Midway down the hallway, the knight stood in the center with a short sword cocked over his shoulder like a game piece. It would have amused me if Shara wasn’t in danger, but with the Executioner out of commission, we were in serious fucking trouble.

Not to mention her fucking alpha.

Rik was down. Stuck like a bug on his back on the tacky hotel-like carpet. Whatever trap they’d sprung not only froze them but prevented them from shifting all the way. He had scrawny human-like legs with a big rock troll chest above.

A queen I didn’t know bent down over Shara, who lay sprawled lifeless and limp on top of him. Though the queen straightened when she heard us coming.

Leviathan roared inside me, stretching out his long, snaky neck. Claws and teeth ready. I gritted my teeth, fighting to keep from shifting. Not until we knew what triggered the trap. Maybe it’d been Rik starting to shift. Besides, the dragon was too fucking big to get down the hallway. I needed to be able to fight and maneuver, but with such a narrow corridor, I’d barely be able to lift my head.

Like a scared little pup, Kevin huddled up close against the Executioner. It struck me at that moment how much smaller humans were than Blood, especially when we were well fed and pumped on queen’s blood. He looked like a little kid against the knight.

What the fuck…? If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was fondling him. No. Patting him. Looking for one of the knight’s many weapons.

Hell yeah, Kevin. Feed her some fucking steel.

Words wavered through the bond, thin and distant, echoing over valleys and mountains. Rik’s voice, repeating over and over. :It’s in the floor.:

:You hearing his warning?: I asked in the bond so the other two didn’t trigger the trap accidentally.